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posite cannot be admitted, viz., that we can pass from vice to virtue instantly. " Facilis descensus Averni," sang the Pagan poet. No effort is required to tumble down the mount, but long and arduous is the return climb. Or is your reckless confidence based on God's power to save? Brethren, remember this, that God never uses extraordinary means to save a man who has at his disposal and neglects means ordinary but sufficient. This is the true meaning of the proverb that God helps those who help themselves. It is only in cases of absolute necessity that God accords us supernatural aid. Thus the Magi were led to Bethlehem by the star, but though on their return they were obliged to follow previously untrodden ways, yet the star most probably failed to reappear. So, too, though Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, still the bystanders were bidden to remove the stone from off the tomb and loose the bands from his hands and feet; and though the angel knocked the fetters from Peter's limbs, yet to Peter himself was left the donning of his clothes. True, God preserved the three young men in the fiery furnace, and the infant Moses adrift upon the Nile, and Daniel in the lions' den, but, mark you, in these and similar cases, the dangers did not result from personal caprice. He hath given His angels charge over us to keep us in all His ways — the ways of God and righteousness. If, however, we rashly brave the clefted rocks and yawning chasms of temptation we must not expect the hands of the Lord or His angels to bear us up. There is a remarkable differ-